Other ideas to get kitten to use scratch post?

Swttea

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It's been a little over a month that Winnie has been with us and I am not sure what else I can try to get her to scratch the right places.

She usually wants to scratch when she first wakes up, or after she finishes eating. She wants to scratch the couch or chair, my bed (from the floor, standing and scratching as high as she can reach), or she'll occasionally scratch on the mat I have under her litter box. Besides the litter mat, I've never let her get away with it for more than a few seconds. I will move her to one of the many scratching things I've bought, but she doesn't start up again (she doesn't go back to the thing she was scratching 90% of the time, either)...

I've bought a LOT of scratchy things at this point. I probably have every type of surface and shape! But she'll scratch none of them. I have:

Cat Tower One (Carpet and sisal)
Loves the tower but only to lounge.

Cat Tower Two (Sherpa and sisal)
Loves the tower but only to lounge.

Mini hammock tower with sisal post
Loves the tower but only to lounge / bat around the balls or pull them up and play with them.

32 inch Ultimate Scratching Post
No interest

This vertical box scratcher
No interest

Wavy thing
She just likes to lay on this, or go under it.

Mini post with feathers
She's scratched this the most. She'll stretch to the very top and mostly scratch the fuzzy bit. It is the only scratcher/toy of hers that shows any wear. But it's still like, 3% of her scratching activity. She'll only do it once a week, if that.

In addition I covered a board with cotton batting and then covered it in a linen extremely similar to my couch. Propped it right up on the couch. No interest in it.

With all of these I make sure to play with them/around them/on them.
I have laid what I can in various positions.
I have held her paws to it and done scratching motions.
I have scratched it.
I rake toys over/up them so that she will extend her claws and 'feel' it, and climb.

Catnip is a popular suggestion. Well, she either doesn't like catnip or is not yet old enough to react to it. I saw that it can take until 6mo+ of age to react to catnip? She is only 4.5 or so. I have tried the little baggies that came with a lot of her toys, and I also bought spray oil, neither had any reaction whatsoever.

Any other suggestions? She obviously wants to scratch, and I don't let her scratch what she wants to scratch, so I'd really like to find 'the answer'!
 

BlackCatOp

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Have you tried placing double stick tape on the couch? Sounds like you have provided her a lot of good scratching options. I agree that placing them close to the couch at least for the moment is your best bet for her to conform. It probably took me several months to completely train my cats to not scratch on the couch. I left the double stick tape on the couch for about 6 months and whenever they wanted to scratch on the couch I would place them in front of the scratching post.

Hope this helps and don’t give up!
 
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Swttea

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Have you tried placing double stick tape on the couch? Sounds like you have provided her a lot of good scratching options. I agree that placing them close to the couch at least for the moment is your best bet for her to conform. It probably took me several months to completely train my cats to not scratch on the couch. I left the double stick tape on the couch for about 6 months and whenever they wanted to scratch on the couch I would place them in front of the scratching post.

Hope this helps and don’t give up!
I have not. I just looked it up, there are a lot of options! Do you remember what brand you used?
 

molly92

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There's a product called sticky paws that is essentially just wide pieces of double stick tape for this purpose.

You've done a fantastic job of providing options. Hope where you're shopping has good return policies! There are still a few more things to try, though. One big advantage to people furniture over scratching posts is that they're a lot sturdier, and cats can really dig in without any annoying wobbling. If you can do any simple adjustments in your home to stabilize some of your scratchers, she might like them better. I'm thinking using command velcro strips to stick them to the floor, propping them up somehow, or in some cases screwing the pole into its actual base more tightly. You would probably need to move it to a new spot, because she likely won't give it another try if she doesn't think it's changed.

Something you haven't tried much of is cardboard, which is definitely my cat's favorite. I have a ton of those flat rectangles on the floor. When she stands on top of it, it gives her a nice position to scratch as hard as she likes. I have a roll of the anti-skid rubbery lattice stuff that's used under rugs that keeps them really secure. For a good stretch she'll use a couple pieces of vertical cat furniture, but for most of her scratching the pads will do. They have to be replaced now and then, but you can usually find fairly cheap ones.

A DIY option is to buy some sisal rope and wrap it around a nice table leg. I have done this in the past, but sisal isn't my cat's favorite. It worked well though.

Once when I had a lot more free time and was convinced that buying cardboard scratchers was a waste of money when I could get cardboard boxes for free, I used an exacto knife and cut up many, many squares, about 5 inches sq each, and glued them on top of each other until I had a tower the height of my kitchen table, then wedged it under so it was very stable. My cat loved that one. It didn't last forever though, and I decided it was worth paying for my cardboard to be pre-cut and assembled after that. I might try it again one day if I have better tools.
 
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Swttea

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There's a product called sticky paws that is essentially just wide pieces of double stick tape for this purpose.

You've done a fantastic job of providing options. Hope where you're shopping has good return policies! There are still a few more things to try, though. One big advantage to people furniture over scratching posts is that they're a lot sturdier, and cats can really dig in without any annoying wobbling. If you can do any simple adjustments in your home to stabilize some of your scratchers, she might like them better. I'm thinking using command velcro strips to stick them to the floor, propping them up somehow, or in some cases screwing the pole into its actual base more tightly. You would probably need to move it to a new spot, because she likely won't give it another try if she doesn't think it's changed.

Something you haven't tried much of is cardboard, which is definitely my cat's favorite. I have a ton of those flat rectangles on the floor. When she stands on top of it, it gives her a nice position to scratch as hard as she likes. I have a roll of the anti-skid rubbery lattice stuff that's used under rugs that keeps them really secure. For a good stretch she'll use a couple pieces of vertical cat furniture, but for most of her scratching the pads will do. They have to be replaced now and then, but you can usually find fairly cheap ones.

A DIY option is to buy some sisal rope and wrap it around a nice table leg. I have done this in the past, but sisal isn't my cat's favorite. It worked well though.

Once when I had a lot more free time and was convinced that buying cardboard scratchers was a waste of money when I could get cardboard boxes for free, I used an exacto knife and cut up many, many squares, about 5 inches sq each, and glued them on top of each other until I had a tower the height of my kitchen table, then wedged it under so it was very stable. My cat loved that one. It didn't last forever though, and I decided it was worth paying for my cardboard to be pre-cut and assembled after that. I might try it again one day if I have better tools.
Thank you for all of the suggestions! Since two people have now recommended it, I purchased some tape. Hopefully, if the couch option is completely gone she'll try the others.

As far as sturdiness goes, I can see why what would make a big difference. However, some of the objects are so heavy (the ultimate scratcher) and she is so small (3.5lb), that nothing she really touches moves lol. All the towers are sturdy, so the only one really is that vertical cardboard scratcher, which I do have propped up right against the couch. So I'm not sure that is the issue, she's never even 'gotten into' it enough to disturb them!

I forgot another scratching option; it's one of those large toys with the ball track, that has a large flat cardboard piece in the middle. Loves the ball track but I don't think she's ever scratched it even once.
I also laid this one on it's back (so the long part was on the floor) and tried it like those pads but again, no attempt to scratch it :think:
 

maggie101

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It's been a little over a month that Winnie has been with us and I am not sure what else I can try to get her to scratch the right places.

She usually wants to scratch when she first wakes up, or after she finishes eating. She wants to scratch the couch or chair, my bed (from the floor, standing and scratching as high as she can reach), or she'll occasionally scratch on the mat I have under her litter box. Besides the litter mat, I've never let her get away with it for more than a few seconds. I will move her to one of the many scratching things I've bought, but she doesn't start up again (she doesn't go back to the thing she was scratching 90% of the time, either)...

I've bought a LOT of scratchy things at this point. I probably have every type of surface and shape! But she'll scratch none of them. I have:

Cat Tower One (Carpet and sisal)
Loves the tower but only to lounge.

Cat Tower Two (Sherpa and sisal)
Loves the tower but only to lounge.

Mini hammock tower with sisal post
Loves the tower but only to lounge / bat around the balls or pull them up and play with them.

32 inch Ultimate Scratching Post
No interest

This vertical box scratcher
No interest

Wavy thing
She just likes to lay on this, or go under it.

Mini post with feathers
She's scratched this the most. She'll stretch to the very top and mostly scratch the fuzzy bit. It is the only scratcher/toy of hers that shows any wear. But it's still like, 3% of her scratching activity. She'll only do it once a week, if that.

In addition I covered a board with cotton batting and then covered it in a linen extremely similar to my couch. Propped it right up on the couch. No interest in it.

With all of these I make sure to play with them/around them/on them.
I have laid what I can in various positions.
I have held her paws to it and done scratching motions.
I have scratched it.
I rake toys over/up them so that she will extend her claws and 'feel' it, and climb.

Catnip is a popular suggestion. Well, she either doesn't like catnip or is not yet old enough to react to it. I saw that it can take until 6mo+ of age to react to catnip? She is only 4.5 or so. I have tried the little baggies that came with a lot of her toys, and I also bought spray oil, neither had any reaction whatsoever.

Any other suggestions? She obviously wants to scratch, and I don't let her scratch what she wants to scratch, so I'd really like to find 'the answer'!
My have never liked circular scratchers. They rarely use the big sisal scratcher. What they use is the most expensive,of course. Corrugated card board. They love to stretch to mostly slanted.
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